Well, I go off of what I have seen from people I have known who have had different cars, and what I see in the U pull it yards. I never see ANY Frontiers or 2000+ Sentras, but yet I see 2005 Cobalts, 2003 S-10's, Malibus, etc. with minor damage junked quite often. I have 285k on my Nissan, and have never known one to go less than 200k with minimal service. I have seen plenty of GM products die from electrical and mechanical problems in my line of work. We tend to laugh at anyone who drives a Cavalier because they are just so bad. At my work, we have 2 Acura's, 3 Nissan's, 2 Hyundai's, 3 Honda's a Mitsubishi and 2 Fords as regular delivery cars. No one uses a GM or Chrysler product on a regular basis. Down here, domestics are a dying breed. No one seems to buy them new anymore except for the elderly, rental car companies and state agencies, and the roads are full of imports. The only exception being large trucks and SUV's, but even there Toyota Tundra's and Nissan Titans seem to be very popular and gaining ground. As far as I am concerned, GM can and should die. It no longer produces anything of real value except for over-paid union jobs. In order for me to like GM again, they would have to terminate ALL UAW workers, and move their means of production to right to work states then demolish their old factories. The union employees could then be black listed and forbidden from ever working for GM again. All new employees would have to sign some sort of exclusionary agreement wherein they would be immediately terminated without recourse for even speaking of a union. After all, their value is not much more than a Mc Donalds burger flipper, and they should be paid likewise. I figure $8.50-11 an hour should be more than enough for someone doing unskilled labor like manufacturing work. No retirement, medical 100% paid for by the employee, etc.
